TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec. 1, 2014) - Financial 15 Split Corp. (the "Company") is pleased to announce it has filed a preliminary short form prospectus in each of the provinces of Canada with respect to an offering of Preferred Shares and Class A Shares of the Company. The offering will be co-led by National Bank Financial Inc., CIBC, RBC Capital Markets and will also include Scotia Capital Inc., BMO Capital Markets, GMP Securities L.P., Canaccord Genuity Corp. and Raymond James.
The Preferred Shares will be offered at a price of $10.00 per Preferred Share to yield 5.25% and the Class A Shares will be offered at a price of $9.75 per Class A Share to yield 15.5%. The closing price on the TSX of each of the Preferred Shares and the Class A Shares on November 28, 2014 was $10.14 and $10.04, respectively.
Since inception of the Company, the aggregate dividends paid on the Preferred Shares have been $5.75 per share and the aggregate dividends paid on the Class A Shares have been $12.61 per share, for a combined total of $18.36. All distributions to date have been made in tax advantage eligible Canadian dividends or capital gains dividends.
The net proceeds of the secondary offering will be used by the Company to invest in an actively managed, high quality portfolio consisting of 15 financial services companies made up of Canadian and U.S. issuers as follows:
| Bank of Montreal |
|
National Bank of Canada |
|
Bank of America Corp. |
| The Bank of Nova Scotia |
|
Manulife Financial Corporation |
|
Citigroup Inc. |
| Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce |
|
Sun Life Financial Services of Canada Inc. |
|
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. |
| Royal Bank of Canada |
|
Great-West Lifeco Inc. |
|
JP Morgan Chase & Co. |
| The Toronto-Dominion Bank |
|
CI Financial Corp. |
|
Wells Fargo & Co. |
The Company's investment objectives are:
Preferred Shares:
- to provide holders of the Preferred Shares with fixed, cumulative preferential monthly cash dividends currently in the amount of $0.04375 per Preferred Share to yield 5.25% annually, to be set by the Board of Directors annually subject to a minimum of 5.25% until 2020; and
- on or about the termination date, currently December 1, 2020 (subject to further 5 year extensions thereafter), to pay the holders of the Preferred Shares $10.00 per Preferred Share.
Class A Shares:
- to provide holders of the Class A Shares with regular monthly cash dividends in an amount to be determined by the Board of the Directors and currently targeted to be $0.1257 per Class A Share; and
- to permit holders to participate in all growth in the net asset value of the Company above $10 per Unit, by paying holders on or about the termination date of December 1, 2020 (subject to further 5 year extensions thereafter) such amounts as remain in the Company after paying $10 per Preferred Share.
The sales period of this overnight offering will end at 9:00 a.m. EST on December 2, 2014.
A preliminary short form prospectus containing important information relating to the Preferred Shares and the Class A Shares has been filed with securities commissions or similar authorities in all provinces of Canada. The preliminary short form prospectus is still subject to completion or amendment. Copies of the preliminary short form prospectus may be obtained from your registered financial advisor using the contact information for such advisor, or from representatives of the underwriters listed above. There will not be any sale or any acceptance of an offer to buy the Preferred Shares or the Class A Shares until a receipt for the final short form prospectus has been issued.